The horror of the Holocaust remains frozen in time at Auschwitz, Norman Edwards writes.
When I booked a tour of some eastern European countries, a visit to a concentration camp was not something I wanted to include on my agenda, but it was on the itinerary I chose and at first I thought I would just sit that one out.
I am so glad I didn't.
Most folk will have read something about the Holocaust but as it recedes into history we think about it less.
That must not be allowed to happen.
A visit to one of the ''extermination'' camps hits hard.
The one on my itinerary was Auschwitz, which the Nazis opened in May 1940, at first for mainly Polish prisoners.
Seeing the buildings and getting an inkling of what conditions were like creates a memory that will stay forever.
One room was filled with the meagre belongings of the prisoners.
They were only allowed to take 25kg or one small suitcase of belongings with them, and that was taken from them on arrival.
Looking at the tiny suitcases, the shoes, dresses and forlorn toys of little children, babies even, in a bleak room, it is hard to hold back the tears.
Another room displays two tonnes of human hair, which was destined to be woven into military clothing for warmth.
The Jews interned were afforded no dignity, even after death, as ashes from the kilns were spread upon surrounding fields as fertiliser.
The gas chambers and fiery kilns introduced as an efficient means of extermination turned the camp into a processing factory.
We stood in a gas chamber, thinking about how it would feel to be conned into thinking you were going to the showers.
What followed during the years of the camp's operation was the hiss of gas and the horror of death.
Some of the prisoners were forced to stoke the fires of the kilns and feed the dead bodies in.
They mostly lost their minds and worked zombie-like.
It is estimated that 1.1 million people, Jews, Poles, dissidents, priests, and ''antisocials'', including women who would not sleep with the soldiers, died of disease, starvation, or extermination in Auschwitz alone.
The Polish people are quick to point out that although some of the extermination camps were in Poland, they were German camps. Poland actually had a high proportion of Jewish people. Not now so, of course.
There is a lot more to tell, but it is little wonder that so many of us were upset after the visit, and how important that this event, the worst genocide in history, must never be forgotten or diminished and how important it is to keep sights such as Auschwitz as a reminder.
It is inconceivable to me how any person with a heart could do these things.
• Norman Edwards lives near Palmerston.
